Embenchime River 65°16’35’’N 101°9’21’’E 11:00 p.m. Siberia 11:00 a.m. EDT 78° F High 49°F Low Sunny Dr. Ranson reports: We hopped out of our tents early this morning, broke camp, grabbed a quick breakfast and headed into the forest to make our measurements. We were in the woods by 8:30 this morning, and didn’t return […]
Twelve Years of Fires
Besides acquiring photo-like images of the surface of Earth, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites can detect the anomalously high temperatures associated with actively burning fires. Using this “hotspot” data, John Nelson of IDV Solutions made a map of major fires in the contiguous 48 United States from 2001 […]
Siberia 2012: Smoke and Rising Waters
Embenchime River 66.34 N 100.63 E 11:30 p.m. Siberia, 11:30 a.m. EDT 78°F High 52°F Low Partially cloudy Dr. Ranson reports: I am tired tonight. Actually, I think everyone is tired, because it was a very long and intense day. The day started early. Really early. As in, today’s work started late last night. As […]
Tall Crops
Sab Kim Jet Propulsion Laboratory Updates on the vegetation conditions are provided here, monitored by the crop structure team. There were localized thunderstorms on July 15th, which gave 8 mm rainfall according to the local weather data. I happened to be in the field(!) and believe the campaign fields received much more. Some fields outside […]
Siberia 2012: Laundry Day
Embenchime River 66.57 N 99.28 E 79°F High 45°F Low 10:15 p.m. Siberia 10:15 a.m. EDT Dr. Ranson reports: Tonight, I’m calling in from my tent. I’m not going to bed – I’ve turned it into an office, because it makes it easier to work on the computer and the data terminal if I’m shaded […]
Siberia 2012: Reading the Signs
Embenchime River 9:35 p.m. Siberia 9:35 a.m. EST 74°F High 46°F Low Sunny Dr. Ranson reports: Today we chugged down the river. We’re heading towards the junction of the Embenchime and the Kochechum Rivers. Just before we get there, we have a series of plots we really want to measure. That confluence is still a […]
Answer to July Puzzler: Dudinka, USSR
Congratulations to Yiannis Raftopoulos for being the first to correctly identify that our second satellite puzzler was a view of Dudinka, a port city along the Yenisei River in northern Siberia. Raftopoulos submitted his answer just 15 hours and 51 minutes after we posted the image—not quite as fast as Alexandre Manthieu was at solving our […]
Siberia 2012: We are all Connected
Embenchime River 9:30 p.m. Siberia, 9:30 a.m. EDT 65°F High 54°F low Rain Dr. Ranson reports: We’re at the end of another long journey on the Embenchime. We’ve covered 38 kilometers in a straight line – with the twists and turns, of the river, multiply that by about 1 ½ – so it’s more like […]
Siberia 2012: Old Fires, New Rain
Embenchime River 10:45 p.m. Siberia 10:45 a.m. EDT 71°F High 42°F Low Steady rain. Dr. Ranson reports Tonight I’m calling from my tent. I’m in my sleeping bag already too. I like it here, because it’s dry. Outside, it is raining, and everything is wet. I hear rain dripping on the tent, and all around. […]
Siberia 2012: Progress along the Embenchime
Embenchime River 66° 2 min N 97° 49 min E 11:30 p.m. Siberia 11:30 a.m. EDT 71°F High 44°F low Sunny Dr. Ranson reports: We fought the river again today, but in the end, we have been successful. We’re now tucked away in camps – the one we wanted to reach yesterday. Again, our trip […]